Monday, March 28, 2011

Give land back to squatters, says Kula

News source : thestaronline.com

IPOH: A piece of land at Gunung Cheroh here that was sold to a private developer by the state government should be allocated to the 27 squatter families who have been asked to vacate the area, Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran said.

He said the state government should help the affected families who had been living there for more than 50 years.

“The government can either compensate the developer or allocate another piece of land to the squatters.

“This can work out as a win-win situation for both parties,” he said in a statement.

Kulasegaran said the families had been issued four eviction notices by the developer and the matter had been brought to court.

On Wednesday, the families got a reprieve from being evicted after the High Court here fixed a new hearing date to allow the families to appoint a lawyer.

Kulasegaran said the lack of political will had resulted in over 15,000 squatters still occupying government and private land, adding that the majority of them lived within the Kinta Valley.

“In 1993, a total of 224 squatters were asked to move from Kampung Chekkedi with promises that houses would be given to them.

“It, however, did not materialise,” he said.

Kulasegaran also pointed out that the government had earlier announced that Perak would be squatter-free this year.